Marseille - Shakhtar Donetsk predictions and free betting tips [22/02/2024]

On Thursday, 22nd February, as part of the return match of the Europa League ⅛ finals, Marseille are set to host Shakhtar Donetsk. In Marseille's penultimate game Gennaro Gattuso, as head coach, led the team to a 2:2 draw, so now a fresh start is required.

Marseille

For several weeks now, Marseille have been in a crisis not having registered a single victory in 2024, apart from a hard-earned 0:1 victory over Thionville in the French Cup in early January. Since then, the sky and whites have not won in seven consecutive matches across all tournaments, resulting in an exit from the country's cup against Rennes (a loss on aggregate over two matches). Last weekend, despite Marseille playing with an extra player in Brest for over half an hour, they managed to lose, conceding the only goal on the 88th minute (1:0). Their current ninth position in the national championship standings led to the resignation of the club's head coach, Gennaro Gattuso. Last week, under the Italian's leadership, the French drew with Shakhtar Donetsk (2:2) in the first leg of the Europa League 1/16 final, thanks to goals from Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Ilimane Ndiaye.

The team's supporters can only be encouraged by one fact: Marseille have been undefeated in 13 concurrent games at Velodrome in all competitions. Sarr (3 goals in French Ligue 1) was ineligible for the first game due to suspension and should now return to the squad, while Rongier (long-term injury) is still in the treatment room, as is young Moroccan talent Nadir (substitute) with Pedro Ruis. As mentioned earlier, Gattuso parted ways with Marseille last weekend, and now the reins will be taken over by Jean-Louis Gasset: the 70-year-old recently faced a drop from Ligue 1 with Bordeaux and Saint-Etienne and was dismissed as coach of Ivory Coast's national team during the Africa Cup of Nations (before the Elephants finally became champions)... Pierre Aubameyang (top scorer in the Europa League with 6 goals) will likely start and will be responsible for creativity in the attack, assisted by Ndiaye and Harit.

Shakhtar Donetsk

Shakhtar Donetsk, currently sitting on the fourth place in the Ukrainian championship, took almost a three-month break from official matches before the start of the Europa League playoffs. Despite this, the Ukrainian team, playing on a neutral pitch, managed to pull off a draw against a strong Marseille side (2:2) - with goals coming from Mykola Matvienko and Eguinaldo. Shakhtar participated in the UEFA Champions League group stage this autumn and were close to reaching the ⅛ finals but let Porto and Barcelona pass. In winter preparation, Shakhtar only managed to secure a win in one of their last five friendly matches, while ending December with three 'clean' victories in the national championship.

On 26th February, Pushich's men will again take on a club from the Ukrainian Premier League, which means Shakhtar had a whole week to analyze the first game with Marseille. Five of Shakhtar's players did not participate in the match a week ago, including experienced Dmytro Chygrynskyi (3 goals last year), young Brazilian Marlon Gomes (injured), as well as Petriak, Puzankov and Kashchuk (3 goals) - all are recovering in the medical room. Zubkov, who scored 4 goals and provided 3 assists in 15 games this season, will be responsible for sharpness in front of the opponents' goal, along with Krys'kov (4 goals, 2 assists), Sikan (3 goals, 3 assists), and Matvienko (who scored in the first leg).

Head to Head

These teams met each other in 2009 in the quarter-finals of the Europa League, and the Ukrainian team won both matches (2:0 and 1:2). The game a week ago ended in a draw 2:2.

Match prediction for Marseille – Shakhtar

Marseille are in a crisis and lost their head coach last week, but the sky and whites have yet to lose at Velodrome this campaign, despite visits from the likes of Ajax, Brighton, Rennes, Lyon, and Monaco. Shakhtar Donetsk, of course, made a vigorous performance in the first leg - however, it should be kept in mind that Shakhtar had not played official matches for almost three months, so their players' physical condition is still far from ideal. My prediction - home team victory.